Male, Pale, And Stale – And Hypocritical?
download .pdfUnion officials pretend to reflect their diverse membership, yet they continue to be overwhelmingly “male, pale, and stale,” as Service Employees International Union (SEIU) president Andy Stern has remarked. Of course, even the leadership of Stern's breakaway Change to Win coalition is controlled predominantly by white males. While union officials never cease complaining about the composition of America's business executives, they would do well to look at their own leadership.
Discrimination
The face of the labor movement isn't its only black eye when it comes to diversity. According to documents obtained by the Center for Union Facts from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), labor unions have faced more than 13,000 charges of discrimination since 2000. And unions have had to pay more than $6 million in fines. Those charges include:
| Complaints of race discrimination: | 4,248 |
| Complaints of age discrimination: | 3,386 |
| Complaints of sex discrimination: | 1,820 |
| Complaints of disability discrimination: | 1,642 |
| Complaints of religious discrimination: | 297 |